Ralphie Rough Road

When we moved to our new place I was so excited to put out a garden.  Finally the time & space to grow our own food!  I made my list of fruit & vegetables I wanted, researched seed companies and ordered my seeds.   After much research both online and through books I felt ready to tackle starting seeds indoors.  Getting a jump on my plants while winter lingered outside sounded like the perfect idea.

The planning stages of my seed starting adventure.

Tiny seeds ready for planting

Recycling toilet paper rolls and egg cartons to use as seed starting cells.

Tomato, strawberry and pepper seeds ready for their indoor start.

The first batch of lettuce coming along nicely, at least initially.

However, the best plans sometimes fail.  My first batch of seed starts initially started out looking great but then they started to fail.  I decided to start a second set and they took right off. Great I am on my way again.  Or so I thought.

Suddenly the middle of May was upon us and then it was June.  Woah!  Where did the time go?  Had I over-committed myself?  My seedlings that survived, were begging to be planted.   But with no time to prepare my garden in the immediate future, I knew this would be a failed attempt. I had to admit I was not ready to take on the responsibility of a garden at this point.  There had been too many things to attend to at our new place and gardening had been placed on the back burner.

Tomato plants ready to be transplanted outside.

In the end I transplanted my tomato plants to containers and attempted to plant carrot & green bean seeds in containers.   Due to the crazy amount of rain we had in June, my seeds did not make it.  It is true, too much water is bad for your plants & seeds.  As for the tomatoes only time will tell.  The plants continue to grow but again I wonder if they will yield fruit with all the rainfall they have received.  All in all Amy’s garden was a failure but I have not given up.  I plan to do more research and devote more time to next year’s garden.

The lone survivors of my garden attempt

On a positive note, mother nature did not fail. In April morel mushrooms made their presence known.

They were delicious sautéed in butter, salt & pepper.

In addition, wild black raspberries and blackberries abound on the property.  I have been diligently picking berries as they ripen.  Let me tell you, there is nothing quite as delicious as a wild berry that mother nature has tended to with the care only she can provide.  There are many more ready to ripen.

Blackberries with their companions.

Black raspberries during the ripening process.

Black raspberries ready to be picked.

The middle stage of blackberries.

So why did my garden fail?

1.  Learning curve on starting seeds indoors.  The first batch did not do well.  The second batch sprouted just fine but I waited too long to transplant outdoors.

2.  My over zealous attitude.  Keep in mind I had spent a month on trail maintenance, which was needed but took my time away from preparing a garden.

3.  The lack of sunshine on our property presented a challenge.   107 acres of wooded property with very little open to the sun.  More research is needed on planting with our limited access to the sun.

4.  Too much rain has affected the fruit bearing of my tomato plants.  They may still yield fruit but they are certainly behind.

Overall, I learned a lot from this experience.  Do not take on too much!  Enjoy the benefits of mother nature, very little work needed on my part.  But most of all this experience has made me more determined to grow my own food.  Until next year, for now I will enjoy the blackberries and the local produce from our more experienced neighbors.

I would love to hear about your challenges, successes, failures &/or tips with your gardening.

Let’s grow together 🙂